Wire spring construction for upholstered furniture



June 9, 1942. w, H, NEELY 2,285,827

WIRE SPRING CONSTRUCTION FOR UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE F iled Dec. 27, 19592 Sheets -Sheet 1 INVENTOR. WILL/HM H- NEELY Q.

A RNE Y.

June 9, 1942. w. H. NEELY 2,285,827

WIRE SPRING CONSTRUCTION FOR UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE Filed Dec; 27; 1939 2Sheets-Sheet 2 25 INVENTOR. i H v WILLIHMH- NEELY Patented June 9, 1942WIRE SPRING CONSTRUCTION FOR UPHOL- STERED FURNITURE William Neely,Cleveland, Ohio, assignor, by direct and mesne assignments, to John 0.Lincoln, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Application December 27, 1939, Serial No. 311,144

'7 Claims. (Cl. 155-479) This invention relatesin general to spring seatstructures for automobile and upholstered furniture seats embodyingelongated wire springs of sinuous or similar shape such as described inmy co-pending application Ser. No. 256,277, and more particularly to aunitary spring seat structure in which an open frame is bridged byelongated wire springsmounted parallel to each other in elevatedposition crosswise of said frame. A seat structure of this type, whichhas the seating portions of the individual springs yieldinglyinterconnected to a unitary seating surface by short helical springsencircled at its side and front edges by a border or edge wirereenforcing these edges, necessitates heavier, or reenforced, outersprings, due to the fact that these springs mount the edge wire but areonly supported at their inner sides by adjacent springs. Heavier orreenforced outer springs of course interfere with proper yielding actionof the outer areas of the seating surface and change the resiliency ofthe entire seating structure.

It is the primary object of the present invention to overcome the abovestated deficiencies in present cay spring seat structures of the typereferred to by the provision of a spring seat structure in which allwire springs are substantfally of equal yielding and supporting actionand in which the edge wire which encircles the seating surface of thestructure is pretensioned and attached to the sides of the outer springsand the frame to effect proper support of these outer springs by saidedge wire.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a uniformlyyielding, supporting spring seat structure ofthe type described,assembled from elongated wire springs of substantially equal resiliency,and a torsionally tensioned border or edge wire, which wire is coupledwith the outer sides of the outer springs and the frame, to effectproper support of said outer springs.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a uniformlyyielding, supporting spring the essential elements of which are setforth in the appended claims, and a preferred form of embodiment of theinvention is hereinafter shown tures of construction and combination ofparts, 5

with reference to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of thisspecification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top elevation of a seat structure embodying the invention,parts being broken away to show the corrugated wire springs, theirhook-up with a torsionally tensioned U-shaped border wire, and thehook-up of said tensioned border wire with the frame of the seatstructure.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the seat structure shown in Fig. 1.

view of the rear rail of the frame showing springs secured thereto, andthe border wire coupled to said rail.

Referring now more particularly to the exemplified form of :the seatstructure shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, reference numeral 2'denotes a tubular, substantially rectangularly shaped open seat framestructure. This structure is made of tubular piping and has its siderails 3, 3 bent upwardly, so that the rear rail 6 is elevated withrespect to front rail 5 and. provides ample space for yielding action ofelongated, corrugated wire springs 6 which bridge the frame crosswiseand are secured to the rear and front rails 4 and 5.

' Springs 6, which are madeof steel wire bent to sinuous shape to permitof longitudinal yielding stretching under load, are built similar to thesprings of my co-pending application above referred to. Thus, eachspring 6 is at the front end of its seating portion formed with anintegral, rearwardly and downwardly extended supporting arm 1 which islooped at its lower end to provide a coil 8. The end of this coil 8extends forward and is looped to form a second coil 9, which has itsfree end portion forwardly and laterally extended as at IU andthendoubled back as at H to form a hook-shaped supporting and attachingmember [2 adapted to rigidly secure the front end of spring '6 to frontrail 5 as more clearly brought out into-pending application Ser. No.215,526 of which applicant is coinventor. The rear end of each spring isbent upwardly and formed with a coil I 4 and a hook Fig. 3 is a planview of the U-shaped border 15 including a straight extension I5 similarto the supporting and attachment means at the front of the spring, so asto permit of rigidly securing the rear end of the spring to rear rail 4.The thus mounted springs i are symmetrically distributed over the framestructure and are coupled with each other by short helical tensionsprings ii to form a continuous seating surface adapted to supportpadding and covering, all as rails I and 5 of frame 2, extension members11 are sleeved upon the respective loops 20 of springs 5' and securedthereto by clips it. Then torsion arms 30 of U-shaped border wire 21 arethreaded through coils M of springs 6' in such a fashion that extensionsii of said springs form supports for said torsion arms, and finally Ithe hook members 32 are hooked, upon exten with one of the loops ofouter springs 8 to 20 prevent pivotal downward movement of the extensionmember with respect to springs 8'. Loop l 9 embodies in its parallelsides 2| struck-up por tions 22 which form recessed seats and permit ofproper alignment of the extension member with the seating surface ofsprings 6'. The front end arm 23 of member ii is substantially longerthan its rear end arm 25 for proper attachment of said front end arm toend spring 6' and the adjoining springs 8, and, preferably, arms 23 and24 are provided with properly spaced recesses I 25 to precisely locatethe position of member H and prevent lateral shifting of said memberwhen clips 26 fasten arms 23 and 24 to springs 6 and 6'.

The thus constructed seating surface of the spring assembly has itsfront and side edges encircled by a substantially U-shaped edge wire 21,embodying a web portion 28, side arms 29 and relatively short torsionarms 30. These torsion arms extend inwardly from the rear ends of sidearms 29 in substantially parallel relation with respect to web portion28 and have their free ends formed with crank arms 3! ending in hookmembers 32 to permit of said arms being hooked to the protrudingstraight extensions d5 of the rear supporting and attachment means forsprings 6 which adjoin outer springs 6'. g

In addition, crank arms 3| are angularly related to side arms 25 of edgewire 21 in such a manner as to effect torsional tensioning of torsionarms 30 when hook members 32 engage sions l5 of springs i. In thisposition, the web portion 28 of border wire 21 is positioned asubstantial distance above the seating surfaces of springs 6 and 6' andmust forcibly be shifted downwardlmto permit of attachment to the frontends 33 of springs 6 and attachment of side arms 29 to extension membersl1. Such forcible movement pre-tensions the edge wire bythe torsionaleffect on torsion arms 30 and thus provides the desired additionalsupport for springs 6 and extension members H.

The spring assembly is of course padded and covered by a covering 35 andprovides a comfortable, readily yielding seat structure with properlysupported side areas and edges adapted to stand up under adverseconditions.

Having thus described my invention, what I- claim is: 1

1. In a seat structure a frame having front and rear'rails, a pluralityof elongated wire springs bridging said frame crosswise thereof andsecured to said front and rear rails, means inter-connecting said wiresprings to a seating surface, and a torsionally pre-tensioned edge wiresecured to the front ends of said springs, the outer sides of the outerones of said springs and to the rear rail,of said frame.

2. In a seat structure a frame having front and rear rails, a pluralityof elongated wire springs bridging said frame crosswise thereof andsecured to its front and rear rails, means interconnecting said wiresprings to a seating surface, and a pre-tensioned U-shaped edge wireincluding torsional supporting and attaching arms, said edge wire beingconnected to the front ends of said springs and the outer sides of theouter ones of said springs and said torsional supporting arms beingnon-rotatably' connected to the,

rear rail of said frame. I

3. In a seat structure a frame having front and rear rails, a pluralityof substantially equalextensions I5 and side arms 29 and web 23 areshorter seating surface than springs 6, an arrangement which effects asomewhat different inclination of the V-shaped front supporting means ofsaid springs and therewith slightly stifly shaped and tensionedcorrugated wire springs arranged side by side crosswise of said frameand secured to the front and rear rails thereof, means interconnectingsaid springs to a seatin surface, and a pre-tensioned U-shaped edge wireincluding inwardly extended torsional arms of substantial length havingat its ends means angularly related to said arms for connecting saidarms to said frame, said edge wire'being connected to said springs, itsside arms being connected to the outer sides of the outer springs andits torsional supporting arms, being arranged parallel to said rear.rail, torsionally tensioned and by their angularly related meansconnected fens springs 6' without materially aifecting the vyieldability of their seating portions. Torsion arms 30 are dimensionedto extend through coils H of springs 6' and to engage with their hookmembers 32 extensions l5' on the springs 6 to said rear rail. ,7

4. In a seat structure a frame having front and rear rails, a pluralityof elongated, corruelongated, corrugated wire springs bridging saidframe crosswise thereof and secured to opposite rails of said frame,yielding means interconnectme said wire springs to a seating surface,corrugated means coupled with the outer ones of said springs forstiffening and widening their seating surface, and a U-shaped edge wireincluding torsional supporting arms, said edge being secured to saidsprings and said stiffening and widening means, and the torsional armsof said edge wire being torsionally tensioned and secured to said frame.

6. In a seat structure a frame, a plurality of Wire elongated,corrugated wire springs bridging said frame crosswise thereof andsecured to opp site rails of said frame, yielding means interconnectingsaid wire springs to a seating surface, corrugated means rigidly andnon-rotatably coupled with the outer ones of said springs for stiffeningand widening the side areas of said seating surface, and a U-shaped,pre-tensioned edge wire including torsional supporting arms securedunder torsional tension to the frame, said edge wire being secured tothe front of said Sprin s and t0 the sides of said stiffening andwidening means.

'7. In a seat structure a frame, a plurality of elongated, corrugatedwire springs of equal length bridging said frame crosswise'thereof andsecured to opposite rails of said frame, a cormgated, shorter wirespring at each side of the surface formed by said first springs to acontinuous seating surface, corrugated meansrigidly and non-rotatablycoupled with the shorter ones of said wir'e springs for stiffening andwidening the side areas of the said seating surface, and a U-shaped,pre-tensioned edge wire includin torsional supporting arms secured undertorsiona1 tension to the frame, said edge wire being secured to thefront of said springs and to the sides of said stiffening and wideningmeans.

' WILLIAM H. NEELY.

